Richard F. Burton

The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night

When it was the Nine Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,

She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
the Lady Jamilah returned to her women, she said to them,
“Come, let us go back to our palace.” They replied,
“Why should we return now, seeing that we use to abide here
three days?” Quoth she, “I feel an exceeding oppression
in myself, as though I were sick, and I fear lest this increase
upon me.”330 So they answered, “We hear and
obey,” and donning their walking dresses went down to the
river-bank and embarked in a boat; whereupon behold, the keeper of
the garden came up to Ibrahim and said to him, knowing not what had
happened, “O Ibrahim, thou hast not had the luck to enjoy the
sight of her, and I fear lest she have seen thee, for ’tis
her wont to tarry here three days.” Replied Ibrahim,
“She saw me not nor I her; for she came not forth of the
pavilion.”331 Rejoined the keeper, “True, O my
son, for, had she seen thee, we were both dead men: but abide with
me till she come again next week, and thou shalt see her and take
thy fill of looking at her.” Replied the Prince, “O my
lord, I have with me money and fear for it: I also left men behind
me and I dread lest they take advantage of my
absence.”332 He retorted, “O my son ’tis
grievous to me to part with thee;” and he embraced and
farewelled him. Then Ibrahim returned to the Khan where he lodged,
and foregathering with the doorkeeper, took of him all his property
and the porter said, “Good news, Inshallah!”333 But Ibrahim
said, “I have found no way to my want, and now I am minded to
return to my people.” Whereupon the porter wept; then taking
up his baggage, he carried them to the ship and abade him adieu.
Ibrahim repaired to the place which Jamilah had appointed him and
awaited her there till it grew dark, when, behold, she came up,
disguised as a bully-boy with rounded beard and waist bound with a
girdle. In one hand she held a bow and arrows and in the other a
bared blade, and she asked him, “Art thou Ibrahim, son of
al-Khasib, lord of Egypt?” “He I am,” answered
the Prince; and she said, “What ne’er-do-well art thou,
who comes to debauch the daughters of Kings? Come: speak with the
Sultan.”334 “Therewith” (quoth Ibrahim)
“I fell down in a swoon and the sailors died335 in their skins for
fear; but, when she saw what had betided me, she pulled off her
beard and throwing down her sword, ungirdled her waist whereupon I
knew her for the Lady Jamilah and said to her, ‘By Allah,
thou hast rent my heart in sunder!’336 adding to the boatmen,
‘Hasten the vessel’s speed.’ So they shook out
the sail and putting off, fared on with all diligence; nor was it
many days ere we made Baghdad, where suddenly we saw a ship lying
by the river-bank. When her sailors saw us, they cried out to our
crew, saying, ‘Ho, such an one and such an one, we give you
joy of your safety!’ Then they drave their ship against our
craft and I looked and in the other boat beheld Abu al-Kasim
al-Sandalani who when he saw us exclaimed ‘This is what I
sought: go ye in God’s keeping; as for me, I have a need to
be satisfied!’ Then he turned to me and said, ‘Praised
be Allah for safety! Hast thou accomplished shine errand? I
replied, ‘Yes!’ Now Abu al-Kasim had a flambeau before
him; so he brought it near our boat,337 and when Jamilah saw him, she was
troubled and her colour changed: but, when he saw her, he said,
‘Fare ye in Allah’s safety. I am bound to Bassorah on
business for the Sultan; but the gift is for him who is
present.’338 Then he brought out a box of
sweetmeats, wherein was Bhang and threw it into our boat: whereupon
quoth I to Jamilah, ‘O coolth of mine eyes, eat of
this.’ But she wept and said, ‘O Ibrahim, wottest thou
who that is?’ and said I, ‘Yes, ’tis such an
one.’ Replied she, ‘He is my first cousin, son of my
father’s brother339 who sought me aforetime in marriage of
my sire; but I would not accept of him. And now he is gone to
Bassorah and most like he will tell my father of us.’ I
rejoined, ‘O my lady he will not reach Bassorah, till we are
at Mosul.’ But we knew not what lurked for us in the Secret
Purpose. “Then” (continued Ibrahim) “I ate of the
sweetmeat, but hardly had it reached my stomach when I smote the
ground with my head; and lay there till near dawn, when I sneezed
and the Bhang issued from my nostrils. With this, I opened my eyes
and found myself naked and cast out among ruins; so I buffeted my
face and said in myself, ‘Doubtless this is a trick
al-Sandalani hath played me.’ But I knew not whither I should
wend, for I had upon me naught save my bag-trousers.340 However, I
rose and walked on a little, till I suddenly espied the Chief of
Police coming towards me, with a posse of men with swords and
targes;341 whereat I took fright and seeing a
ruined Hammam hid myself there. Presently, my foot stumbled upon
something; so I put my hand to it, and it became befouled with
blood. I wiped my hand upon my bag-trousers, unknowing what had
befouled it, and put it out a second time, when it fell upon a
corpse whose head came up in my hand. I threw it down, saying,
‘There is no Majesty and there is no Might in Allah, the
Glorious, the Great!’; and I took refuge in one of the
corner-cabinets of the Hammam. Presently the Wali stopped at the
bath-door and said, ‘Enter this place and search.’ So
ten of them entered with cressets, and I of my fear retired behind
a wall and looking upon the corpse, saw it to be that of a young
lady342
with a face like the full moon; and her head lay on one side and
her body clad in costly raiment on the other. When I saw this, my
heart fluttered with affright. Then the Chief of Police entered and
said, ‘Search the corners of the bath.’ So they entered
the place wherein I was, and one of them seeing me came up hending
in hand a knife half a cubit long. When he drew near me, he cried,
‘Glory be to God, the Creator of this fair face! O youth,
whence art thou?’ Then he took me by the hand and said,
‘O youth, why slewest thou this woman?’ Said I,
‘By Allah, I slew her not, nor wot I who slew her, and I
entered not this place but in fear of you!’ And I told him my
case, adding, ‘Allah upon thee, do me no wrong, for I am in
concern for myself!’ Then he took me and carried me to the
Wali who, seeing the marks of blood on my hand said, ‘This
needeth no proof: strike off his head!’—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

330 Here after the
favourite Oriental fashion, she tells the truth but so
enigmatically that it is more deceptive than an untruth; a good
Eastern quibble infinitely more dangerous than an honest downright
lie. The consciousness that the falsehood is part fact applies a
salve to conscience and supplies a force lacking in the mere fib.
When an Egyptian lies to you look straight in his eyes and he will
most often betray himself either by boggling or by a look of
injured innocence.

339 Who had a prior
right to marry her, but not against her consent after she was of
age.

340 Arab
“Sirwál.” In Al–Hariri it is a singular form (see
No. ii. of the twelve riddles in Ass. xxiv.), but Mohammed said to
his followers “Tuakhkhizú” (adopt ye)
“Saráwílát.” The latter is regularly declinable but the
broken form Saráwíl is imperfectly declinable on account of its
“heaviness,” as are all plurals whose third letter is
an Alif followed by i or í in the next syllable.

341 Arab.
“Matarik” from mitrak or mitrakah a small wooden shield
coated with hide This even in the present day is the
policeman’s equipment in the outer parts of the East.

342 Arab.
“Sabíyah” for which I prefer Mr. Payne’s
“young lady” to Lane’s “damsel” the
latter should be confined to Járiyah as both bear the double sense
of girl and slave (or servant) girl. “Bins” again is
daughter, maid or simply girl.

When it was the Nine Hundred and Fifty-ninth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim
continued, ‘Then they carried me before the Wali and he,
seeing the bloodstains on my hand, cried, ‘This needeth no
proof: strike off his head!’ Now hearing these words, I wept
with sore weeping the tears streaming from my eyes and recited
these two couplets343,

‘We trod the steps that for us were writ,
And whose steps are
written he needs must tread
And whose death is decreed in one land to be
He ne’er shall
perish in other stead.’

Then I sobbed a single sob and fell a-swoon; and the
headsman’s heart was moved to ruth for me and he exclaimed,
‘By Allah, this is no murtherer’s face!’ But the
Chief said, ‘Smite his neck.’ So they seated me on the
rug of blood and bound my eyes; after which the sworder drew his
sword and asking leave of the Wali, was about to strike off my
head, whilst I cried out, ‘Alas, my strangerhood!’ when
lo and behold! I heard a noise of horse coming up and a voice
calling aloud, ‘Leave him! Stay thy hand, O
Sworder!’”—Now there was for this a wondrous
reason and a marvellous cause; and ’twas thus. al-Khasib,
Wazir of Egypt, had sent his Head Chamberlain to the Caliph Harun
al, Rashid with presents and a letter, saying, “My son hath
been missing this year past, and I hear that he is in Baghdad;
where fore I crave of the bounty of the Vicegerent of Allah that he
make search for tidings of him and do his endeavour to find him and
send him back to me with the Chamberlain.” When the Caliph
read the missive, he commanded the Chief of Police to search out
the truth of the matter, and he ceased not to enquire after
Ibrahim, till it was told him that he was at Bassorah, where upon
he informed the Caliph, who wrote a letter to the viceroy and
giving it to the Chamberlain of Egypt, bade him repair to Bassorah
and take with him a company of the Wazir’s followers. So, of
his eagerness to find the son of his lord, the Chamberlain set out
forthright and happened by the way upon Ibrahim, as he stood on the
rug of blood. When the Wali saw the Chamberlain, he recognised him
and alighted to him and as he asked, “What young man is that
and what is his case?” The Chief told him how the matter was
and the Chamberlain said (and indeed he knew him not for the son of
the Sultan344) “Verily this young man hath not
the face of one who murthereth.” And he bade loose his bonds;
so they loosed him and the Chamberlain said, “Bring him to
me!” and they brought him, but the officer knew him not his
beauty being all gone for the horrors he had endured. Then the
Chamberlain said to him, “O youth, tell me thy case and how
cometh this slain woman with thee.” Ibrahim looked at him and
knowing him, said to him, “Woe to thee! Dost thou not know
me? Am I not Ibrahim, son of thy lord? Haply thou art come in quest
of me.” With this the Chamberlain considered him straitly and
knowing him right well, threw himself at his feet; which when the
Wali saw, his colour changed, and the Chamber lain cried to him,
“Fie upon thee, O tyrant! Was it shine intent to slay the son
of my master al-Khasib, Wazir of Egypt?” The Chief of Police
kissed his skirt, saying “O my lord,345 how should I know him? We
found him in this plight and saw the girl lying slain by his
side.” Rejoined the Chamberlain, “Out on thee! Thou art
not fit for the office. This is a lad of fifteen and he hath not
slain a sparrow; so how should he be a murtherer? Why didst thou
not have patience with him and question him of his case?”
Then the Chamberlain and the Wali cried to the men, “Make
search for the young lady’s murtherer.” So they
re-entered the bath and finding him, brought him to the Chief of
Police, who carried him to the Caliph and acquainted him with that
which had occurred. al-Rashid bade slay the slayer and sending for
Ibrahim, smiled in his face and said to him, “Tell me thy
tale and that which hath betided thee.” So he recounted to
him his story from first to last, and it was grievous to the
Caliph, who called Masrur his Sworder, and said to him, “Go
straightway and fall upon the house of Abu al-Kasim al-Sandalani
and bring me him and the young lady.” The eunuch went forth
at once and breaking into the house, found Jamilah bound with her
own hair and nigh upon death; so he loosed her and taking the
painter, carried them both to the Caliph, who marvelled at
Jamilah’s beauty. Then he turned to Al— Sandalani and
said, “Take him and cut off his hands, wherewith he beat this
young lady; then crucify him and deliver his monies and possessions
to Ibrahim.” They did his bidding, and as they were thus,
behold, in came Abu al-Lays governor of Bassorah, the Lady
Jamilah’s father, seeking aid of the Caliph against Ibrahim
bin al— Khasib Wazir of Egypt and complaining to him that the
youth had taken his daughter. Quoth al-Rashid, “He hath been
the means of delivering her from torture and slaughter.” Then
he sent for Ibrahim, and when he came, he said to Abu al-Lays,
“Wilt thou not accept of this young man, son of the Soldan of
Egypt, as husband to thy daughter? ‘ Replied Abu al-Lays,
“I hear and I obey Allah and thee, O Commander of the
Faithful;” whereupon the Caliph summoned the Kazi and the
witnesses and married the young lady to Ibrahim. Furthermore, he
gave him all Al Sandalani’s wealth and equipped him for his
return to his own country, where he abode with Jamilah in the
utmost of bliss and the most perfect of happiness, till there came
to them the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies;
and glory be to the Living who dieth not! They also relate, O
auspicious King, a tale anent

344 Here the text
is defective, but I hardly like to supply the omission. Mr. Payne
introduces from below, “for that his charms were wasted and
his favour changed by reason of the much terror and affliction he
had suffered.” The next lines also are very abrupt and
unconnected.

345 Arab. “Yá
Mauláya!” the term is still used throughout Moslem lands; but
in Barbary where it is pronounced “Mooláee” Europeans
have converted it to “Muley” as if it had some
connection with the mule. Even in Robinson Crusoe we find
“muly” or “Moly Ismael” (chaps. ii.); and
we hear the high-sounding name Maulá-i-Idrís, the patron saint of
the Sunset Land, debased to “Muley Drís.”

The Caliph Al–Mu’tazid bi ’llah347 was a
high-spirited Prince and a noble-minded lord; he had in Baghdad six
hundred Wazirs and of the affairs of the folk naught was hidden
from him. He went forth one day, he and Ibn Hamdún,348 to divert
himself with observing his lieges and hearing the latest news of
the people; and, being overtaken with the heats of noonday, they
turned aside from the main thoroughfare into a little by-street, at
the upper end whereof they saw a handsome and high-builded mansion,
discoursing of its owner with the tongue of praise. They sat down
at the gate to take rest, and presently out came two eunuchs as
they were moons on their fourteenth night. Quoth one of them to his
fellow, “Would Heaven some guest would seek admission this
day! My master will not eat but with guests and we are come to this
hour and I have not yet seen a soul.” The Caliph marvelled at
their speech and said, “This is a proof of the
house-master’s liberality: there is no help but that we go in
to him and note his generosity, and this shall be a means of favour
betiding him from us.” So he said to the eunuch, “Ask
leave of thy lord for the admission of a company349 of strangers.”
For in those days it was the Caliph’s wont, whenas he was
minded to observe his subjects, to disguise himself in
merchant’s garb. The eunuch went in and told his master, who
rejoiced and rising, came out to them in person. He was fair of
favour and fine of form and he appeared clad in a tunic of
Níshápúr350 silk and a gold laced mantle; and he
dripped with scented waters and wore on his hand a signet ring of
rubies. When he saw them, he said to them, “Well come and
welcome to the lords who favour us with the utmost of favour by
their coming!” So they entered the house and found it such as
would make a man forget family and fatherland for it was like a
piece of Paradise.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.

346 Lane omits this
tale because “it is very similar, but inferior in interest,
to the Story told by the Sultan’s Steward.” See vol. i.
278.

347 Sixteenth
Abbaside A.H. 279–289 (=A.D. 891–902). “He was
comely, intrepid, of grave exterior, majestic in presence, of
considerable intellectual power and the fiercest of the Caliphs of
the House of Abbas. He once had the courage to attack a lion”
(Al–Siyuti). I may add that he was a good soldier and an
excellent administrator, who was called Saffáh the Second because
he refounded the House of Abbas. He was exceedingly fanatic and
died of sensuality, having first kicked his doctor to death, and he
spent his last moments in versifying.

348 Hamdún bin
Ismá’íl, called the Kátib or Scribe, was the first of his
family who followed the profession of a Nadím or Cup-companion. His
son Ahmad (who is in the text) was an oral transmitter of poetry
and history. Al–Siyúti (p. 390) and De Slane I. Khall (ii.
304) notice him.

349 Probably the
Caliph had attendants, but the text afterwards speaks of them as
two. Mac. Edit. iv. p. 558, line 2; and a few lines below,
“the Caliph and the man with him.”

350 Arab.
“Naysábúr,” the famous town in Khorasan where
Omar-i-Khayyám (whom our people will call Omar Khayyám) was buried
and where his tomb is still a place of pious visitation. A sketch
of it has lately appeared in the illustrated papers. For an
affecting tale concerning the astronomer-poet’s tomb,
borrowed from the Nigáristán see the Preface by the late Mr.
Fitzgerald whose admirable excerpts from the Rubaiyat (101 out of
820 quatrains) have made the poem popular among all the
English-speaking races.

When it was the Nine Hundred and Sixtieth Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
the Caliph entered the mansion, he and the man with him, they saw
it to be such as would make one forget family and fatherland, for
it was like a piece of Paradise. Within it was a flower-garden,
full of all kinds of trees, confounding sight and its
dwelling-places were furnished with costly furniture. They sat down
and the Caliph fell to gazing at the house and the household gear.
(Quoth Ibn Hamdún), “I looked at the Caliph and saw his
countenance change, and being wont to know from his face whether he
was amused or anangered, said to myself, ‘I wonder what hath
vexed him.’ Then they brought a golden basin and we washed
our hands, after which they spread a silken cloth and set thereon a
table of rattan. When the covers were taken off the dishes, we saw
therein meats rare as the blooms of Prime in the season of their
utmost scarcity, twofold and single, and the host said,
‘Bismillah, O my lords! By Allah, hunger pricketh me; so
favour me by eating of this food, as is the fashion of the
noble.’ Thereupon he began tearing fowls apart and laying
them before us, laughing the while and repeating verses and telling
stories and talking gaily with pleasant sayings such as sorted with
the entertainment. We ate and drank, then removed to another room,
which confounded beholders with its beauty and which reeked with
exquisite perfumes. Here they brought us a tray of fruits
freshly-gathered and sweetmeats the finest flavoured, whereat our
joys increased and our cares ceased. But withal the Caliph”
(continued Ibn Hamdun) “ceased not to wear a frowning face
and smiled not at that which gladdened all souls, albeit it was his
wont to love mirth and merriment and the putting away of cares, and
I knew that he was no envious wight and oppressor. So I said to
myself, ‘Would Heaven I knew what is the cause of his
moroseness and why we cannot dissipate his ill-humour!’
Presently they brought the tray of wine which friends doth conjoin
and clarified draughts in flagons of gold and crystal and silver,
and the host smote with a rattan-wand on the door of an inner
chamber, whereupon behold, it opened and out came three damsels,
high-bosomed virginity with faces like the sun at the fourth hour
of the day, one a lutist, another a harpist and the third a
dancer-artiste. Then he set before us dried fruits and confections
and drew between us and the damsels a curtain of brocade, with
tassels of silk and rings of gold. The Caliph paid no heed to all
this, but said to the host, who knew not who was in his company,
‘Art thou noble?’351 Said he, ‘No, my lord; I am but a
man of the sons of the merchants and am known among the folk as Abú
al-Hasan Ali, son of Ahmad of Khorasan.’ Quoth the Caliph,
‘Dost thou know me, O man?’, and quoth he, ‘By
Allah, O my lord, I have no knowledge of either of your
honours!’ Then said I to him, ‘O man, this is the
Commander of the Faithful, Al-Mu’tazid bi ’llah
grandson of Al–Mutawakkil alà ’llah.’352 Whereupon he
rose and kissed the ground before the Caliph, trembling for fear of
him, and said, ‘O Prince of True Believers, I conjure thee,
by the virtue of thy pious forbears, an thou have seen in me any
shortcomings or lack of good manners in thy presence, do thou
forgive me!’ Replied the Caliph, ‘As for that which
thou hast done with us of honouring and hospitality nothing could
have exceeded it; and as for that wherewith I have to reproach thee
here, an thou tell me the truth respecting it and it commend itself
to my sense, thou shalt be saved from me; but, an thou tell me not
the truth, I will take thee with manifest proof and punish thee
with such punishment as never yet punished any.’ Quoth the
man, ‘Allah forbid that I tell thee a lie! But what is it
that thou reproachest to me, O Commander of the Faithful?’
Quoth the Caliph, ‘Since I entered thy mansion and looked
upon its grandeur, I have noted the furniture and vessels therein,
nay, even to thy clothes, and behold, on all of them is the name of
my grandfather Al–Mutawakkil ala ’llah.’353 Answered Abu
al-Hasan, ‘Yes, O Commander of the Faithful (the Almighty
protect thee), truth is thine inner garb and sincerity is thine
outer garment and none may speak otherwise than truly in thy
presence.’ The Caliph bade him be seated and said,
‘Tell us.’” So he began, “Know, O Commander
of the Faithful, that my father belonged to the markets of the
money-changers and druggists and linendrapers and had in each bazar
a shop and an agent and all kinds of goods. Moreover, behind the
money-changer’s shop he had an apartment, where he might be
private, appointing the shop for buying and selling. His wealth was
beyond count and to his riches there was none amount; but he had no
child other than myself, and he loved me and was tenderly fain of
me. When his last hour was at hand, he called me to him and
commended my mother to my care and charged me to fear Almighty
Allah. Then he died, may Allah have mercy upon him and continue the
Prince of True Believers on life! And I gave myself up to pleasure
and eating and drinking and took to myself comrades and intimates.
My mother used to forbid me from this and to blame me for it, but I
would not hear a word from her, till my money was all gone, when I
sold my lands and houses and naught was left me save the mansion
wherein I now dwell, and it was a goodly stead, O Commander of the
Faithful. So I said to my mother, ‘I wish to sell the
house;’ but she said, ‘O my son, an thou sell it, thou
wilt be dishonoured and wilt have no place wherein to take
shelter.’ Quoth I, ‘’Tis worth five thousand
dinars, and with one thousand of its price I will buy me another
house and trade with the rest.’ Quoth she, ‘Wilt thou
sell it to me at that price?’; and I replied,
‘Yes.’ Whereupon she went to a coffer and opening it,
took out a porcelain vessel, wherein were five thousand dinars.
When I saw this meseemed the house was all of gold and she said to
me, ‘O my son, think not that this is of thy father’s
good. By Allah, O my son, it was of my own father’s money and
I have treasured it up against a time of need; for, in thy
father’s day I was a wealthy woman and had no need of
it.’ I took the money from her, O Prince of True Believers,
and fell again to feasting and carousing and merrymaking with my
friends, unheeding my mother’s words and admonitions, till
the five thousand dinars came to an end, when I said to her,
‘I wish to sell the house.’ Said she, ‘O my son,
I forbade thee from selling it before, of my knowledge that thou
hadst need of it; so how wilt thou sell it a second time?’
Quoth I, ‘Be not longsome of speech with me, for I must and
will sell it;’ and quoth she, ‘Then sell it to me for
fifteen thousand dinars, on condition that I take charge of thine
affairs.’ So I sold her the house at that price and gave up
my affairs into her charge, whereupon she sought out the agents of
my father and gave each of them a thousand dinars, keeping the rest
in her own hands and ordering the outgo and the income. Moreover
she gave me money to trade withal and said to me, ‘Sit thou
in thy father’s shop.’ So I did her bidding, O
Commander of the Faithful, and took up my abode in the chamber
behind the shop in the market of the money-changers, and my friends
came and bought of me and I sold to them; whereby I made good
cheape and my wealth increased. When my mother saw me in this fair
way, she discovered to me that which she had treasured up of jewels
and precious stones, pearls, and gold, and I bought back my houses
and lands that I had squandered and my wealth became great as
before. I abode thus for some time, and the factors of my father
came to me and I gave them stock-in-trade, and I built me a second
chamber behind the shop. One day, as I sat there, according to my
custom, O Prince of True Believers, there came up to me a damsel,
never saw eyes a fairer than she of favour, and said, ‘Is
this the private shop of Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Ahmad
al-Khorasani?’ Answered I, ‘Yes,’ and she asked,
‘Where is he?’ ‘He am I,’ said I, and
indeed my wit was dazed at the excess of her loveliness. She sat
down and said to me, ‘Bid thy page weigh me out three hundred
dinars.’ Accordingly I bade him give her that sum and he
weighed it out to her and she took it and went away, leaving me
stupefied. Quoth my man to me, ‘Dost thou know her?’,
and quoth I, ‘No, by Allah!’ He asked, ‘Then why
didst thou bid me give her the money?’; and I answered,
‘By Allah, I knew not what I said, of my amazement at her
beauty and loveliness!’ Then he rose and followed her,
without my knowledge, but presently returned, weeping and with the
mark of a blow on his face. I enquired of him what ailed him, and
he replied, ‘I followed the damsel, to see whither she went;
but, when she was aware of me, she turned and dealt me this blow
and all but knocked out my eye.’ After this, a month passed,
without her coming, O Commander of the Faithful, and I abode
bewildered for love of her; but, at the end of this time, she
suddenly appeared again and saluted me, whereat I was like to fly
for joy. She asked me how I did and said to me, ‘Haply thou
saidst to thyself, What manner of trickstress is this, who hath
taken my money and made off?’ Answered I, ‘By Allah, O
my lady, my money and my life are all thy very own!’ With
this she unveiled herself and sat down to rest, with the trinkets
and ornaments playing over her face and bosom. Presently, she said
to me, ‘Weigh me out three hundred dinars. ‘Hearkening
and obedience,’ answered I and weighed out to her the money.
She took it and went away and I said to my servant, ‘Follow
her.’ So he followed her, but returned dumbstruck, and some
time passed without my seeing her. But, as I was sitting one day,
behold, she came up to me and after talking awhile, said to me,
‘Weigh me out five hundred dinars, for I have need of
them.’ I would have said to her, ‘Why should I give
thee my money?’; but my love immense hindered me from
utterance; for, O Prince of True Believers, whenever I saw her, I
trembled in every joint and my colour paled and I forgot what I
would have said and became even as saith the poet,

‘’Tis naught but this! When a-sudden I see her
Mumchance I bide
nor a word can say her.’

So I weighed out for her the five hundred ducats, and she took
them and went away; whereupon I arose and followed her myself, till
she came to the jewel-bazar, where she stopped at a man’s
shop and took of him a necklace. Then she turned and seeing me,
said, ‘Pay him five hundred dinars for me.’ When the
jeweller saw me, he rose to me and made much of me, and I said to
him, ‘Give her the necklace and set down the price to
me.’ He replied, ‘I hear and obey,’ and she took
it and went away;”—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.

352 Tenth Abbaside
(A.H. 234–247=848–861), grandson of Al–Rashid and
born of a slave-concubine. He was famous for his hatred of the
Alides (he destroyed the tomb of Al–Husayn) and claimed the
pardon of Allah for having revised orthodox traditionary doctrines.
He compelled the Christians to wear collars of wood or leather and
was assassinated by five Turks.

353 His father was
Al–Mu’tasim bi ’llah (A.H.
218–227=833–842) the son of Al–Rashid by Máridah
a slave-concubine of foreign origin. He was brave and of high
spirit, but destitute of education; and his personal strength was
such that he could break a man’s elbow between his fingers.
He imitated the apparatus of Persian kings; and he was called the
“Octonary” because he was the 8th Abbaside; the 8th in
descent from Abbas; the 8th son of Al–Rashid; he began his
reign in A.H. 218; lived 48 years; was born under Scorpio (8th
Zodiacal sign); was victorious in 8 expeditions; slew 8 important
foes and left 8 male and 8 female children. For his introducing
Turks see vol. iii, 81.

When it was the Nine Hundred and Sixty-first Night,

She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu
Hasan the Khorasani thus pursued his tale, “So I said to the
jeweller, ‘Give her the necklace and set down the price to
me.’ Then she took it and went away; but I followed her, till
she came to the Tigris and boarded a boat there, whereupon I signed
with my hand to the ground, as who should say, ‘I kiss it
before thee.’ She went off laughing, and I stood watching
her, till I saw her land and enter a palace, which when I
considered, I knew it for the palace of the Caliph
Al–Mutawakkil. So I turned back, O Commander of the Faithful,
with all the cares in the world fallen on my heart, for she had of
me three thousand dinars, and I said to myself, ‘She hath
taken my wealth and ravished my wit, and peradventure I shall lose
my life for her love.’ Then I returned home and told my
mother all that had befallen me, and she said, ‘O my son,
beware how thou have to do with her after this, or thou art
lost.’ When I went to my shop, my factor in the drug-market,
who was a very old man, came to me and said, ‘O my lord, how
is it that I see thee changed in case and showing marks of chagrin?
Tell me what aileth thee.’ So I told him all that had
befallen me with her and he said, ‘O my son, this is indeed
one of the handmaidens of the palace of the Commander of the
Faithful and haply she is the Caliph’s favourite concubine:
so do thou reckon the money as spent for the sake of Almighty
Allah354
and occupy thyself no more with her. An she come again, beware lest
she have to do with thee and tell me of this, that I may devise
thee some device lest perdition betide thee.’ Then he fared
forth and left me with a flame of fire in my heart. At the end of
the month behold, she came again and I rejoiced in her with
exceeding joy. Quoth she, ‘What ailed thee to follow
me?’; and quoth I, ‘Excess of passion that is in my
heart urged me to this,’ and I wept before her. She wept for
ruth of me and said, ‘By Allah, there is not in thy heart
aught of love-longing but in my heart is more! Yet how shall I do?
By Allah, I have no resource save to see thee thus once a
month.’ Then she gave me a bill saying, ‘Carry this to
such an one of such a trade who is my agent and take of him what is
named therein.’ But I replied, ‘I have no need of
money; be my wealth and my life thy sacrifice!’ Quoth she,
‘I will right soon contrive thee a means of access to me,
whatever trouble it cost me.’ Then she farewelled me and
fared forth, whilst I repaired to the old druggist and told him
what had passed. He went with me to the palace of
Al–Mutawakkil which I knew for that which the damsel had
entered; but the Shaykh was at a loss for a device. Presently he
espied a tailor sitting with his apprentices at work in his shop,
opposite the lattice giving upon the river bank and said to me,
‘Yonder is one by whom thou shalt win thy wish; but first
tear thy pocket and go to him and bid him sew it up. When he hath
done this, give him ten dinars.’ ‘I hear and
obey,’ answered I and taking with me two pieces355 of Greek
brocade, went to the tailor and bade him make of them four suits,
two with long-sleeved coats and two without. When he had finished
cutting them out and sewing them, I gave him to his hire much more
than of wont, and he put out his hand to me with the clothes; but I
said, ‘Take them for thyself and for those who are with
thee.’ And I fell to sitting with him and sitting long: I
also bespoke of him other clothes and said to him, ‘Hang them
out in front of thy shop, so the folk may see them and buy
them.’ He did as I bade him, and whoso came forth of the
Caliph’s palace and aught of the clothes pleased him, I made
him a present thereof, even to the doorkeeper. One day of the days
the tailor said to me, ‘O my son, I would have thee tell me
the truth of thy case; for thou hast bespoken of me an hundred
costly suits, each worth a mint of money, and hast given the most
of them to the folk. This is no merchant’s fashion, for a
merchant calleth an account for every dirham, and what can be the
sum of thy capital that thou givest these gifts and what thy gain
every year? Tell me the truth of thy case, that I may assist thee
to thy desire;’ presently adding, ‘I conjure thee by
Allah, tell me, art thou not in love?’ ‘Yes,’
replied I; and he said, ‘With whom?’ Quoth I,
‘With one of the handmaids of the Caliph’s
palace;’ and quoth he, ‘Allah put them to shame! How
long shall they seduce the folk? Knowest thou her name?’ Said
I, ‘No;’ and said he, ‘Describe her to me.’
So I described her to him and he cried, ‘Out on it! This is
the lutanist of the Caliph Al–Mutawakkil and his pet
concubine. But she hath a Mameluke356 and do thou make friends with him;
it may be he shall become the means of thy having access to
her.’ Now as we were talking, behold, out walked the servant
in question from the palace, as he were a moon on the fourteenth
night; and, seeing that I had before me the clothes which the
tailor had made me, and they were of brocade of all colours, he
began to look at them and examine them. Then he came up to me and I
rose and saluted him. He asked, ‘Who art thou?’ and I
answered, ‘I am a man of the merchants.’ Quoth he,
‘Wilt thou sell these clothes?’; and quoth I,
‘Yes.’ So he chose out five of them and said to me,
‘How much these five?’ Said I, ‘They are a
present to thee from me in earnest of friendship between me and
thee.’ At this he rejoiced and I went home and fetching a
suit embroidered with jewels and jacinths, worth three thousand
dinars, returned therewith and gave it to him. He accepted it and
carrying me into a room within the palace, said to me, ‘What
is thy name among the merchants?’ Said I, ‘I am a man
of them.’357 He continued, ‘Verily I misdoubt
me of thine affair.’ I asked, ‘Why so?’ and he
answered, ‘Because thou hast bestowed on me a costly gift and
won my heart therewith, and I make certain that thou art Abu
alHasan of Khorasan the Shroff.’ With this I fell aweeping, O
Prince of True Believers; and he said to me, ‘Why dost thou
weep? By Allah, she for whom thou weepest is yet more longingly in
love with thee than thou with her! And indeed her case with thee is
notorious among all the palace women. But what wouldst thou
have?’ Quoth I, ‘I would have thee succour me in my
calamity.’ So he appointed me for the morrow and I returned
home. As soon as I rose next morning, I betook myself to him and
waited in his chamber till he came in and said to me, ‘Know
that yesternight when, after having made an end of her service by
the Caliph, she returned to her apartment, I related to her all
that had passed between me and thee and she is minded to foregather
with thee. So stay with me till the end of the day.’
Accordingly I stayed with him till dark, when the Mameluke brought
me a shirt of gold-inwoven stuff and a suit of the Caliph’s
apparel and clothing me therein, incensed me358 and I became like the
Commander of the Faithful. Then he brought me to a gallery with
rows of rooms on either side and said to me, ‘These are the
lodgings of the Chief of the slavegirls; and when thou passest
along the gallery, do thou lay at each door a bean, for ’tis
the custom of the Caliph to do this every
night,’”—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Nine Hundred and Sixty-second Night,

She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
Mameluke said to Abu Hasan, “When thou passest along the
gallery set down at each door a bean for ’tis the custom of
the Caliph so to do, till thou come to the second passage on thy
right hand, when thou wilt see a door with a marble threshold
.359
Touch it with thy hand or, an thou wilt, count the doors which are
so many, and enter the one whose marks are thus and thus. There thy
mistress will see thee and take thee in with her. As for thy coming
forth, verily Allah will make it easy to me, though I carry thee
out in a chest.”—“Then he left me and returned,
whilst I went on, counting the doors and laying at each a bean.
When I had reached the middle of the gallery, I heard a great
clatter and saw the light of flambeaux coming towards me. As the
light drew near me, I looked at it and behold, the Caliph himself,
came surrounded by the slave-girls carrying waxen lights, and I
heard one of the women360 say to another, ‘O my sister,
have we two Caliphs? Verily, the Caliph whose perfumes and essences
I smelt, hath already passed by my room and he hath laid the bean
at my door, as his wont; and now I see the light of his flambeaux,
and here he cometh with them.’ Replied the other,
‘Indeed this is a wondrous thing, for disguise himself in the
Caliph’s habit none would dare.’ Then the light drew
near me, whilst I trembled in every limb; and up came an eunuch,
crying out to the concubines and saying, ‘Hither!’
Whereupon they turned aside to one of the chambers and entered.
Then they came out again and walked on till they came to the
chamber of my mistress and I heard the Caliph say, ‘Whose
chamber is this?’ They answered, ‘This is the chamber
of Shajarat al-Durr.’ And he said, ‘Call her.’ So
they called her and she came out and kissed the feet of the Caliph,
who said to her, ‘Wilt thou drink to-night?’ Quoth she,
‘But for thy presence and the looking on thine auspicious
countenance, I would not drink, for I incline not to wine this
night.’ Then quoth the Commander of the Faithful to the
eunuch, ‘Bid the treasurer give her such necklace;’ and
he commanded to enter her chamber. So the waxen lights entered
before him and he followed them into the apartment. At the same
moment, behold, there came up a damsel, the lustre of whose face
outshone that of the flambeau in her hand, and drawing near she
said, ‘Who is this?’ Then she laid hold of me and
carrying me into one of the chambers, said to me, ‘Who art
thou?’ I kissed the ground before her saying, ‘I
implore thee by Allah, O my lady, spare my blood and have ruth on
me and commend thyself unto Allah by saving my life!’; and I
wept for fear of death. Quoth she, ‘Doubtless, thou art a
robber;’ and quoth I, ‘No, by Allah, I am no robber.
Seest thou on me the signs of thieves?’ Said she, ‘Tell
me the truth of thy case and I will put thee in safety.’ So I
said, ‘I am a silly lover and an ignorant, whom passion and
my folly have moved to do as thou seest, so that I am fallen into
this slough of despond.’ Thereat cried she, ‘Abide here
till I come back to thee;’ and going forth she presently
returned with some of her handmaid’s clothes wherein she clad
me and bade me follow her; so I followed her till she came to her
apartment and commanded me to enter. I went in and she led me to a
couch, whereon was a mighty fine carpet, and said, ‘Sit down
here: no harm shall befal thee. Art thou not Abu al-Hasan Ali the
Khorasani, the Shroff?’ I answered, ‘Yes,’ and
she rejoined, ‘Allah spare thy blood given thou speak truth!
An thou be a robber, thou art lost, more by token that thou art
dressed in the Caliph’s habit and incensed with his scents.
But, an thou be indeed Abu al-Hasan, thou art safe and no hurt
shall happen to thee, for that thou art the friend of Shajarat
al-Durr, who is my sister and ceaseth never to name thee and tell
us how she took of thee money, yet wast thou not chagrined, and how
thou didst follow her to the river bank and madest sign as thou
wouldst kiss the earth in her honour; and her heart is yet more
aflame for thee than is thine for her. But how camest thou hither?
Was it by her order or without it? She hath indeed imperilled thy
life361.
But what seekest thou in this assignation with her?’ I
replied, ‘By Allah, O my lady, ’tis I who have
imperilled my own life, and my aim in foregathering with her is but
to look on her and hear her pretty speech.’ She said,
‘Thou hast spoken well;’ and I added, ‘O my lady,
Allah is my witness when I declare that my soul prompteth me to no
offence against her honour.’ Cried she, ‘In this intent
may Allah deliver thee! Indeed compassion for thee hath gotten hold
upon my heart.’ Then she called her handmaid and said to her,
‘Go to Shajarat al-Durr and say to her, ‘Thy sister
saluteth thee and biddeth thee to her; so favour her by coming to
her this night, according to thy custom, for her breast is
straitened.’ The slave-girl went out and presently returning,
told her mistress that Shajarat al-Durr said, ‘May Allah
bless me with thy long life and make me thy ransom! By Allah, hadst
thou bidden me to other than this, I had not hesitated; but the
Caliph’s migraine constraineth me and thou knowest my rank
with him.’ But the other said to her damsel, ‘Return to
her and say, ‘Needs must thou come to my mistress upon a
private matter between thee and her!’ So the girl went out
again and presently returned with the damsel, whose face shone like
the full moon. Her sister met her and embraced her; then said she,
‘Ho, Abu al-Hasan, come forth to her and kiss her
hands!’ Now I was in a closet within the apartment; so I
walked out, O Commander of the Faithful, and when my mistress saw
me, she threw herself upon me and strained me to her bosom saying,
‘How camest thou in the Caliph’s clothes and his
ornaments and perfumes? Tell me what hath befallen thee.’ So
I related to her all that had befallen me and what I had suffered
for affright and so forth; and she said, ‘Grievous to me is
what thou hast endured for my sake and praised be Allah who hath
caused the issue to be safety, and the fulfilment of safety is in
thy entering my lodging and that of my sister.’ Then she
carried me to her own apartment, saying to her sister, ‘I
have covenanted with him that I will not be united to him
unlawfully; but, as he hath risked himself and incurred these
perils, I will be earth for his treading and dust to his
sandals!’”—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.

359 In sign of
honour. The threshold is important amongst Moslems: in one of the
Mameluke Soldans’ sepulchres near Cairo I found a granite
slab bearing the “cartouche” (shield) of Khufu (Cheops)
with the four hieroglyphs hardly effaced.

361 Epistasis
without the prostasis, “An she ordered thee so to do:”
the situation justifies the rhetorical figure.

When it was the Nine Hundred and Sixty-third Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the
damsel to her sister, “I have covenanted with him that I will
not be united to him unlawfully; but, as he hath risked himself and
incurred these perils, I will be earth for his treading and dust to
his sandals!” Replied her sister, “In this intent may
Allah deliver him!”—“and my mistress rejoined,
‘Soon shalt thou see how I will do, so I may lawfully
foregather with him and there is no help but that I lavish my
heart’s blood to devise this.’ Now as we were in talk,
behold, we heard a great noise and turning, saw the Caliph making
for her chamber, so engrossed was he by the thought of her;
whereupon she took me, O Prince of True Believers and hid me in a
souterrain362 and shut down the trap-door upon me.
Then she went out to meet the Caliph, who entered and sat down,
whilst she stood between his hands to serve him, and commanded to
bring wine. Now the Caliph loved a damsel by name Banjah, who was
the mother of Al–Mu’tazz bi ’llah363; but they
had fallen out and parted; and in the pride of her beauty and
loveliness she would not make peace with him, nor would
Al–Mutawakkil, for the dignity of the Caliphate and the
kingship, make peace with her neither humble himself to her, albeit
his heart was aflame with passion for her, but sought to solace his
mind from her with her mates among the slave-girls and with going
in to them in their chambers. Now he loved Shajarat al-Durr’s
singing: so he bade her sing, when she took the lute and tuning the
strings sang these verses,

‘The world-tricks I admire betwixt me and her;
How, us parted,
the World would to me incline:
I shunned thee till said they, ‘He knows not Love;’
I sought
thee till said they, ‘No patience is mine!’
Then, O Love of her, add to my longing each night,
And, O Solace, thy comforts for Doomsday assign!
Soft as silk is her touch and her low sweet voice
Twixt o’er
much and o’er little aye draweth the line:
And eyne whereof Allah said ‘Be ye!’ and they
Became to man’s
wit like the working of wine.’

When the Caliph heard these verses, he was pleasured with
exceeding pleasure, and I also, O Commander of the Faithful, was
pleasured in my hiding-place, and but for the bounty of Almighty
Allah, I had cried out and we had been disgraced. Then she sang
also these couplets,

‘I embrace him, yet after him yearns my soul
For his love, but
can aught than embrace be nigher?
I kiss his lips to assuage my lowe;
But each kiss gars it glow
with more flaming fire;
‘Tis as though my vitals aye thirst unquencht
Till I see two
souls mixt in one entire.’

The Caliph was delighted and said, ‘O Shajarat al-Durr,
ask a boon of me.’ She replied, ‘O Commander of the
Faithful, I ask of thee my freedom, for the sake of the reward thou
wilt obtain therein.’364 Quoth he, ‘Thou art free for the
love of Allah;’ whereupon she kissed ground before him. He
resumed, ‘Take the lute and sing me somewhat on the subject
of my slave-girl, of whom I am enamoured with warmest love: the
folk seek my pleasure and I seek hers.’ So she took the lute
and sang these two couplets,

‘My charmer who spellest my piety365
On all accounts I’ll
have thee, have thee,
Or by humble suit which besitteth Love
Or by force more fitting
my sovranty.’

The Caliph admired these verses and said, ‘Now, take up
thy lute and sing me a song setting out my case with three damsels
who hold the reins of my heart and make rest depart; and they are
thyself and that wilful one and another I will not name, who hath
not her like.’366 So she took the lute and playing a
lively measure, sang these couplets,

‘Three lovely girls hold my bridle-rein
And in highest stead my
heart overreign.
I have none to obey amid all mankind
But obeying them I but win
disdain:
This is done through the Kingship of Love, whereby
The best of
my kingship they made their gain.’

The Caliph marvelled with exceeding marvel at the aptness of
these verses to his case and his delight inclined him to
reconciliation with the recalcitrant damsel. So he went forth and
made for her chamber whither a slave-girl preceded him and
announced to her the coming of the Caliph. She advanced to meet him
and kissed the ground before him; then she kissed his feet and he
was reconciled to her and she was reconciled to him. Such was the
case with the Caliph; but as regards Shajarat al-Durr, she came to
me rejoicing and said, ‘I am become a free woman by thy
blessed coming! Surely Allah will help me in that which I shall
contrive, so I may foregather with thee in lawful way.’ And I
said, ‘Alhamdolillah!’ Now as we were talking, behold
her Mameluke-eunuch entered and we related to him that which had
passed, when he said, ‘Praised be Allah who hath made the
affair to end well, and we implore the Almighty to crown His
favours with thy safe faring forth the palace!’ Presently
appeared my mistress’s sister, whose name was Fátir, and
Shajarat al-Durr said to her, ‘O my sister, how shall we do
to bring him out of the palace in safety; for indeed Allah hath
vouchsafed me manumission and, by the blessing of his coming, I am
become a free woman.’ Quoth Fatir, ‘I see nothing for
it but to dress him in woman’s gear.’ So she brought me
a suit of women’s clothes and clad me therein; and I went out
forthwith, O Commander of the Faithful; but, when I came to the
midst of the palace, behold, I found the Caliph seated there, with
the eunuchs in attendance upon him. When he saw me, he misdoubted
of me with exceeding doubt, and said to his suite, ‘Hasten
and bring me yonder handmaiden who is faring forth.’ So they
brought me back to him and raised the veil from my face, which when
he saw, he knew me and questioned me of my case. I told him the
whole truth, hiding naught, and when he heard my story, he pondered
my case awhile, without stay or delay, and going into Shajarat
al-Durr’s chamber, said to her, ‘How couldst thou
prefer before me one of the sons of the merchants?’ She
kissed ground between his hands and told him her tale from first to
last, in accordance with the truth; and he hearing it had
compassion upon her and his heart relented to her and he excused
her by reason of love and its circumstances. Then he went away and
her eunuch came in to her and said, ‘Be of good cheer; for,
when thy lover was set before the Caliph, he questioned him and he
told him that which thou toldest him, word by word.’
Presently the Caliph returned and calling me before him, said to
me, ‘What made thee dare to violate the palace of the
Caliphate?’ I replied, ‘O Commander of the Faithful,
’twas my ignorance and passion and my confidence in thy
clemency and generosity that drave me to this.’ And I wept
and kissed the ground before him. Then said he, ‘I pardon you
both,’ and bade me be seated. So I sat down and he sent for
the Kazi Ahmad ibn Abi Duwád367 and married me to her. Then he
commanded to make over all that was hers to me and they displayed
her to me368 in her lodging. After three days, I
went forth and transported all her goods and gear to my own house;
so every thing thou hast seen, O Commander of the Faithful, in my
house and whereof thou misdoubtest, is of her marriage-equipage.
After this, she said to me one day, ‘Know that
Al–Mutawakkil is a generous man and I fear lest he remember
us with ill mind, or that some one of the envious remind him of us;
wherefore I purpose to do somewhat that may ensure us against
this.’ Quoth I, ‘And what is that?;’ and quoth
she, ‘I mean to ask his leave to go the pilgrimage and
repent369 of singing.’ I replied,
‘Right is this rede thou redest;’ but, as we were
talking, behold, in came a messenger from the Caliph to seek her,
for that Al–Mutawakkil loved her singing. So she went with
the officer and did her service to the Caliph, who said to her,
‘Sever not thyself from us;’370 and she answered ‘I
hear and I obey.’ Now it chanced one day, after this, she
went to him, he having sent for her, as was his wont; but, before I
knew, she came back, with her raiment rent and her eyes full of
tears. At this I was alarmed, misdoubting me that he had commanded
to seize upon us, and said, ‘Verily we are Allah’s and
unto Him shall we return! Is Al–Mutawakkil wroth with
us?’ She replied, ‘Where is Al–Mutawakkil? Indeed
Al–Mutawakkil’s rule is ended and his trace is blotted
out!’ Cried I, ‘Tell me what has happened:’ and
she, ‘He was seated behind the curtain, drinking, with
Al–Fath bin Khákán371 and Sadakah bin Sadakah, when his son
Al–Muntasir fell upon him, with a company of the
Turks,372 and slew him; and merriment was turned
to misery and joy to weeping and wailing for annoy. So I fled, I
and the slave-girl, and Allah saved us.’ When I heard this, O
Commander of the Faithful, I arose forthright and went down stream
to Bassorah, where the news reached me of the falling out of war
between Al–Muntasir and Al–Musta’ín bi
’llah;373 wherefore I was affrighted and
transported my wife and all my wealth to Bassorah. This, then, is
my tale, O Prince of True Believers, nor have I added to or taken
from it a single syllable. So all that thou seest in my house,
bearing the name of thy grandfather Al–Mutawakkil, is of his
bounty to us, and the fount of our fortune is from thy noble
sources;374 for indeed ye are people of munificence
and a mine of beneficence.” The Caliph marvelled at his story
and rejoiced therein with joy exceeding: and Abu al-Hasan brought
forth to him the lady and the children she had borne him, and they
kissed ground before the Caliph, who wondered at their beauty. Then
he called for inkcase and paper and wrote Abu al-Hasan a patent of
exemption from taxes on his lands and houses for twenty years.
Moreover, he rejoiced in him and made him his cup-companion, till
the world parted them and they took up their abode in the tombs,
after having dwelt under the palace-domes; and glory be to Allah,
the King Merciful of doom. And they also tell a tale concerning

363 Thirteenth
Abbaside A.H. 252–255 (=866–869). His mother was a
Greek slave called Kabíhah (Al–Mas’udi and
Al–Siyuti); for which “Banjah” is probably a
clerical error. He was exceedingly beautiful and was the first to
ride out with ornaments of gold. But he was impotent in the hands
of the Turks who caused the mob to depose him and kill
him—his death being related in various ways.

365 Arab.
“Nusk” abstinence from women, a part of the
Zahid’s asceticism.

366 Arab.
“Munázirah” the verbal noun of which,
“Munázarah,” may also mean “dispute.” The
student will distinguish between “Munazarah” and
Munafarah=a contention for precedence in presence of an umpire.

373 Twelfth
Abbaside (A.H. 248–252=862–866) the son of a
slave-concubine Mukhárik. He was virtuous and accomplished, comely,
fair-skinned, pock-marked and famed for defective pronunciation;
and he first set the fashion of shortening men’s capes and
widening the sleeves. After may troubles with the Turks, who were
now the Prætorian guard of Baghdad, he was murdered at the
instigation of Al–Mu’ tazz, who succeeded him, by his
Chamberlain Sa’id bin Salíh.

There was once, in time of old, a merchant hight Abd al-Rahmán,
whom Allah had blessed with a son and daughter, and for their much
beauty and loveliness, he named the girl Kaubab al-Sabáh and the
boy Kamar al-Zamán.376 When he saw what Allah had vouchsafed
the twain of beauty and loveliness, brilliancy and symmetry, he
feared for them the evil eyes377 of the espiers and the jibing tongues
of the jealous and the craft of the crafty and the wiles of the
wicked and shut them up from the folk in a mansion for the space of
fourteen years, during which time none saw them save their parents
and a slave-girl who served them. Now their father could recite the
Koran, even as Allah sent it down, as also did his wife, wherefore
the mother taught her daughter to read and recite it and the father
his son till both had gotten it by heart. Moreover, the twain
learned from their parents writing and reckoning and all manner of
knowledge and polite letters and needed no master. When Kamar
al-Zaman came to years of manhood, the wife said to her husband,
“How long wilt thou keep thy son Kamar al-Zaman sequestered
from the eyes of the folk? Is he a girl or a boy?” He
answered, “A boy.” Rejoined she, “An he be a boy,
why dost thou not carry him to the bazar and seat him in thy shop,
that he may know the folk and they know him, to the intent that it
may become notorious among men that he is thy son, and do thou
teach him to sell and to buy. Peradventure somewhat may befal thee;
so shall the folk know him for thy son and he shall lay his hand on
thy leavings. But, an thou die, as the case now is, and he say to
the folk, ‘I am the son of the merchant Abd al-Rahman,’
verily they will not believe him, but will cry, ‘We have
never seen thee and we knew not that he had a son,’ wherefore
the government will seize thy goods and thy son will be despoiled.
In like manner the girl; I mean to make her known among the folk,
so may be some one of her own condition may ask her in marriage and
we will wed her to him and rejoice in her.” Quoth he,
“I did thus of my fear for them from the eyes of the
folk,”—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.

375 Lane rejects
this tale because it is “extremely objectionable; far more so
than the title might lead me to expect.” But he quotes the
following marginal note by his Shaykh: —“Many persons
(women) reckon marrying a second time amongst the most disgraceful
of actions. This opinion is commonest in the country-towns and
villages; and my mother’s relations are thus distinguished;
so that a woman of them, when her husband dieth or divorceth her
while she is young, passeth in widowhood her life, however long it
may be, and disdaineth to marry a second time.” I fear that
this state of things belongs to the good old days now utterly gone
by; and the loose rule of the stranger, especially the English, in
Egypt will renew the scenes which characterised Sind when Sir
Charles Napier hanged every husband who cut down an adulterous
wife. I have elsewhere noticed the ignorant idea that Moslems deny
to women souls and seats in Paradise, whilst Mohammed canonised two
women in his own family. The theory arose with the
“Fathers” of the Christian Church who simply
exaggerated the misogyny of St. Paul. St. Ambrose commenting on
Corinthians i. ii., boldly says:—“Feminas ad imaginem
Dei factas non esse.” St. Thomas Aquinas and his school
adopted the Aristotelian view, “Mulier est erratum naturae,
et mas occasionatus, et per accidens generatur; atque ideo est
monstrum.” For other instances see Bayle s. v. Gediacus
(Revd. Simon of Brandebourg) who in 1695 published a
“Defensio Sexus muliebris,” a refutation of an
anti-Socinian satire or squib, “Disputatio perjucunda,
Mulieres homines non esse,” Parisiis, 1693. But when Islam
arose in the seventh century, the Christian learned cleverly
affixed the stigma of their own misogyny upon the Moslems ad
captandas foeminas and in Southern Europe the calumny still bears
fruit. Mohammed (Koran, chapt. xxiv.) commands for the first time,
in the sixth year of his mission, the veiling and, by inference,
the seclusion of women, which was apparently unknown to the Badawin
and, if practised in the cities was probably of the laxest. Nor can
one but confess that such modified separation of the sexes, which
it would be impossible to introduce into European manners, has
great and notable advantages. It promotes the freest intercourse
between man and man, and thus civilises what we call the
“lower orders”: in no Moslem land, from Morocco to
China, do we find the brutals without manners or morals which are
bred by European and especially by English civilisation. For the
same reason it enables women to enjoy fullest intimacy and
friendship with one another, and we know that the best of both
sexes are those who prefer the society of their own as opposed to
“quite the lady’s man” and “quite the
gentleman’s woman.” It also adds an important item to
social decorum by abolishing e.g. such indecencies as the
“ball-room flirtation”—a word which must be
borrowed from us, not translated by foreigners. And especially it
gives to religious meetings, a tone which the presence of women
modifies and not for the better. Perhaps, the best form is that
semiseclusion of the sex, which prevailed in the heroic ages of
Greece, Rome, and India (before the Moslem invasion), and which is
perpetuated in Christian Armenia and in modern Hellas. It is a
something between the conventual strictness of Al–Islam and
the liberty, or rather licence, of the
“Anglo–Saxon” and the
“Anglo–American.” And when England shall have
cast off that peculiar insularity which makes her differ from all
civilised peoples, she will probably abolish three gross abuses,
time-honoured scandals, which bear very heavily on women and
children. The first is the Briton’s right to will property
away from his wife and offspring. The second is the action for
“breach of promise,” salving the broken heart with
pounds, shillings, and pence: it should be treated simply as an
exaggerated breach of contract. The third is the procedure
popularly called “Crim. Con.,” and this is the most
scandalous of all: the offence is against the rights of property,
like robbery or burglary, and it ought to be treated criminally
with fine, imprisonment and in cases with corporal punishment after
the sensible procedure of Moslem law.

When it was the Nine Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when
the Merchant’s wife spake to him in such wise, he replied,
“I did thus of my fear for them from the eyes of the folk and
because I love them both and love is jealous exceedingly and well
saith he who spoke these verses,

‘Of my sight I am jealous for thee, of me,
Of thyself, of thy
stead, of thy destiny:
Though I shrined thee in eyes by the craze of me
In such nearness irk I should never see:
Though thou wert by my side all the days of me
Till Doomsday I
ne’er had enough of thee.’”

Said his wife, “Put thy trust in Allah, for no harm
betideth him whom He protecteth, and carry him with thee this very
day to the shop.” Then she clad the boy in the costliest
clothes and he became a seduction to all who on him cast sight and
an affliction to the heart of each lover wight. His father took him
and carried him to the market, whilst all who saw him were ravished
with him and accosted him, kissing his hand and saluting him with
the salam. Quoth one, “Indeed the sun hath risen in such a
place and blazeth in the bazar,” and another, “The
rising-place of the full moon is in such a quarter;” and a
third, “The new moon of the Festival378 hath appeared to the
creatures of Allah.” And they went on to allude to the boy in
talk and call down blessings upon him. But his father scolded the
folk for following his son to gaze upon him, because he was abashed
at their talk, but he could not hinder one of them from talking; so
he fell to abusing the boy’s mother and cursing her because
she had been the cause of his bringing him out. And as he gazed
about he still saw the folk crowding upon him behind and before.
Then he walked on till he reached his shop and opening it, sat down
and seated his son before him: after which he again looked out and
found the thoroughfare blocked with people for all the passers-by,
going and coming, stopped before the shop to stare at that
beautiful face and could not leave him; and all the men and women
crowded in knots about him, applying to themselves the words of him
who said,

When the merchant Abd al-Rahman saw the folk thus crowding about
him and standing in rows, both women and men, to fix eyes upon his
son, he was sore ashamed and confounded and knew not what to do;
but presently there came up from the end of the bazar a man of the
wandering Dervishes, clad in haircloth, the garb of the pious
servants of Allah and seeing Kamar al-Zaman sitting there as he
were a branch of Bán springing from a mound of saffron, poured
forth copious tears and recited these two couplets,

“A wand uprising from a sandy knoll,
Like full moon shining
brightest sheen, I saw;
And said, ‘What is thy name?’ Replied he
‘Lúlú’
‘What’ (asked I) ‘Lily?’ and he answered
‘Lá, lá!’”379

Then the Dervish fell to walking, now drawing near and now
moving away,380 and wiping his gray hairs with his
right hand, whilst the heart of the crowd was cloven asunder for
awe of him. When he looked upon the boy, his eyes were dazzled and
his wit confounded, and exemplified in him was the saying of the
poet,

“While that fair-faced boy abode in the place,
Moon of
breakfast-fête he lit by his face,381
Lo! there came a Shaykh with leisurely pace
A reverend trusting
to Allah’s grace,
And ascetic signals his gait display’d.
He had studied Love both by day and night
And had special knowledge of Wrong and Right;
Both for lad and lass had repined his sprite,
And his form like
toothpick was lean and slight,
And old bones with faded skin were o’erlaid.
In such arts our Shaykh was an Ajamí382
With a catamite ever in company;
In the love of woman, a Platonist he383
But in either versed to the full degree,
And Zaynab to him was the same as Zayd.384
Distraught by the Fair he adored the Fair
O’er Spring-camp
wailed, bewept ruins bare.385
Dry branch thou hadst deemed him for stress o’ care,
Which the
morning breeze swayeth here and there,
For only the stone is all hardness made!
In the lore of Love he was wondrous wise
And wide awake with all-seeing eyes.
Its rough and its smooth he had tried and tries
And hugged buck
and doe in the self-same guise
And with greybeard and beardless alike he
play’d.”386

Then he came up to the boy and gave him a root387 of sweet basil,
whereupon his father put forth his hand to his pouch and brought
out for him some small matter of silver, saying, “Take thy
portion, O Dervish, and wend thy ways.” He took the dirhams,
but sat down on the masonry-bench alongside the shop and opposite
the boy and fell to gazing upon him and heaving sigh upon sigh,
whilst his tears flowed like springs founting. The folk began to
look at him and remark upon him, some saying, “All Dervishes
are lewd fellows,” and other some, “Verily, this
Dervish’s heart is set on fire for love of this lad.”
Now when Abd al-Rahman saw this case, he arose and said to the boy,
“Come, O my son, let us lock up the shop and hie us home, for
it booteth not to sell and buy this day; and may Almighty Allah
requite thy mother that which she hath done with us, for she was
the cause of all this!” Then said he, “O Dervish, rise,
that I may shut my shop.” So the Dervish rose and the
merchant shut his shop and taking his son, walked away. The Dervish
and the folk followed them, till they reached their place, when the
boy went in and his father, turning to the Dervish, said to him,
“What wouldst thou, O Dervish, and why do I see thee
weep?” He replied, “O my lord, I would fain be thy
guest this night, for the guest is the guest of Almighty
Allah.” Quoth the merchant, “Welcome to the guest of
God: enter, O Dervish!”—And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

378 The crescent of
the month Zu ‘l-Ka’dah when the Ramazan-fast is broken.
This allusion is common. Comp. vol. i. 84.

379 This line
contains one of the Yes, Yes and No, No trifles alluded to in vol.
ii, 60. Captain Lockett (M. A. 103) renders it “I saw a fawn
upon a hillock whose beauty eclipsed the full moon. I said, What is
thy name? she answered Deer. What my Dear said I, but she replied,
no, no!” To preserve the sound I have sacrificed sense: Lulu
is a pearl, Li? li? (= for me, for me?) and La! La! = no! no! See
vol. i, 217. I should have explained a line which has puzzled some
readers,

385 i.e. He wrote
“Kasidahs” (= odes, elegies) after the fashion of the
“Suspended Poems” which mostly open with the lover
gazing upon the traces of the camp where his beloved had dwelt. The
exaggerated conventionalism of such exordium shows that these early
poems had been preceded by a host of earlier pieces which had been
adopted as canons of poetry.

386 The verses are
very mal-a-propos, like many occurring in The Nights, for the
maligned Shaykh is proof against all the seductions of the pretty
boy and falls in love with a woman after the fashion of Don
Quixote. Mr. Payne complains of the obscurity of the original owing
to abuse of the figure enallage; but I find them explicit enough,
referring to some debauched elder after the type of Abu Nowas.

387 Arab.
“‘Irk” = a root which must here mean a sprig, a
twig. The basil grows to a comparatively large size in the
East.